Someone was whistling.
"h.e.l.lo!" hollered Paige, walking to one of the entrances leading to Nickelodeon Universe.
"Nice," said Bryce, shaking his head angrily. "So much for remaining inconspicuous."
The whistling stopped and someone called out, "h.e.l.lo?!"
"There he is," said Paige, pointing to a lone figure walking towards them through the amus.e.m.e.nt park. "Hey! Over here!"
The guy, an athletic looking blonde dressed in crisp black jeans and a blue polo shirt, raised his hand in greeting and then began walking towards us.
"Meow," whispered Paige. "Who"d have thunk the mall would still be a place to meet hot guys."
I smiled, although it bothered me that his clothing did not match his style, which reminded me more of a biker with and outgrown Mohawk and piercings. Something definitely wasn"t jibing with this guy.
"Welcome," said the man.
"Hey there young feller," said Henry. "Are you part of the shelter team?"
"Please, follow me," he replied, walking away.
I looked at Paige who shrugged.
"Okay, since he"s hot, we can excuse his weirdness," she whispered.
"Excuse me," called Bryce.
The stranger kept walking.
"Dude, stop for a second!" hollered Bryce.
The man froze and turned around.
Bryce walked up to him. "Where are you taking us, exactly?"
"To him," he answered in a stoic voice. "The man you seek."
Bryce"s eyebrows furrowed. "The man we seek?"
The guy"s face turned red and he broke out into a sweat. "Yes," he said.
Henry shuffled over to him. "Son, are you okay?"
His lips moved but he couldn"t quite seem to answer.
"Oh my G.o.d, is he having a seizure or something?" cried Paige.
"What was that?" asked Henry, pressing a hand on his shoulder. "You trying to say something?"
He opened his mouth. "Huhhh..."
Paige turned to me. "Maybe he"s handicapped?" "Autistic or something?"
I looked down at the stranger"s hand and noticed he was clutching something so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"What do you have there?" I asked, motioning towards his closed fist.
He glanced down at his hand and then back up at me, the look in his eyes, desperate.
"Bryce," I said. "Open up his fist. He might have some kind of weapon or something."
Bryce sighed and then grabbed the guy"s wrist.
"Nnnooo..." rasped the guy as Bryce tried uncurling his fingers.
"Ca.s.sie," said Paige. "Honestly, what kind of weapon could he have that"s small enough to fit in the palm of his hand?"
My eyes met the strangers, whose expression turned from fear to disbelief. Before I could say anything, he opened his fist.
"Oh my G.o.d," I said, staring at the cross-necklace. "That"s my sister"s!"
The man closed his eyes and fell to his knees. "It"s true," he croaked. "Thank G.o.d."
Henry shook his head in disgust. "Oh, now he talks,"
Bryce grabbed him by the front of the shirt. "Where did you get that?"
He looked at me again. "From Allie, her sister."
Travis"s face turned red. "Dammit!" he raged, throwing his empty beer bottle at the wall of liquor behind the bar. They were in one of the nightclubs on the upper floor of the mall, waiting for Justice to return.
Kylie and Allie, who were sitting in one of the booths, flinched as he threw a second one, shattering gla.s.s all over the bar.
"What"s wrong?" asked Dwayne, rushing into the restaurant.
"He broke free!" raged Travis. "I can"t control him anymore."
"How?"
"He must be one of those "Born Agains"," he sneered. "Gee, I wonder how that happened?"
Allie looked away.
"Why do we even need him anymore?"
He paused and then smiled, his entire demeanor changing. "You"re right, we don"t. We have the girls and they"re going to help us locate the baby. Now, go, and kill them. Kill them all."
Dwayne bowed and then walked back out of the bar.
The girls stared at each other in horror.
"No," begged Allie, turning to Travis. "Please don"t let him kill Justice!"
"Child, not only is he going to slit your friend"s throat," chuckled Travis, as he grabbed a warm beer from the cooler. "But he"s also going to kill your sisters and eventually, every person that you care about. d.a.m.n," he groaned, after taking a long swig of beer. "This is tasty."
"What do you mean?" asked Kylie, standing up. "Do you know where our sisters are?"
Travis sat down at a table across from them and put his feet up. "Why, yes I do," his eyes turning red. "Now, sit back down before I kill Allie, just for s.h.i.ts and giggles. I really only need one of you."
Kylie immediately sat down.
"Now," he said, tapping his fingers on the table. "There"s been a change of plans. After I finish this beer, we"re going to take ourselves a little ride."
"Where?" asked Kylie, trying not to cry.
He took another pull of his beer and belched. "Cheer up. I"m going to bring you back to your mommy."
Chapter Twenty-Eight.
Ca.s.sie "Excuse me?" I gasped.
"He has your sister and Kylie," said Justice.
"I think she means the part of him being some kind of demon. You know, an ent.i.ty from h.e.l.l," said Paige with a smirk.
"I know you guys think I"m crazy, h.e.l.l I would too if I hadn"t seen the stuff he can do with my own eyes. He actually took possession of my body, for G.o.d"s sake."
I tried not to smile. "And, how"d you get it back?" I asked, wondering if he was a complete nut-job.
He nodded towards the necklace I was holding. "I think it had something to do with that," he smiled sheepishly, "and the fact that I finally believe in G.o.d."
"You didn"t before?" asked Bryce.
He sighed. "No. Not until today."
"So, you say this guy"s name is really Travis?" asked Henry.
"That"s what he claims, but I"m sure it"s not his real name."
"See Wild," said Henry. "I told you it was that p.e.c.k.e.r-head, didn"t I?"
"Yeah you did. So," I said turning back to Justice. "I think it"s time you took us to my sister and Kylie."
Before he could answer, the sound of gunfire exploded all around us and we all crouched down on our hands and knees.
"Ca.s.sie!" hollered Bryce, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him. "Come on, this way!"
"Paige!" I screamed, looking back for her.
"I"m fine!" she hollered. She was kneeling behind a large garbage can with Justice crouched down beside her.
We scurried over to the other side of the level to a purse-kiosk and Bryce pointed. "There."
I looked up and saw Dwayne as he aimed the gun towards us and began firing once again.
"s.h.i.t!" growled Bryce, pulling me down.
"What are we going to do?"
"We"re going to have to get up there and take him down because I"m no marksman. There"s no way I"ll hit him from this distance."
Just then, I looked over at Henry, who was standing up without any kind of cover, had his gun raised, and was aiming for Dwayne.
"What is he doing?" I gasped. "He"ll never hit him at that range with a shot-gun!"
Bryce swore, then raised his revolver and fired up towards Dwayne.
"Henry!" I screamed, trying to get his attention when Dwayne ducked behind a wall.
Henry lowered his gun and crouched back down.
"I"m going up there," said Bryce, pointing towards the escalators, which were shutdown. "You try to distract him, somehow."
"How?" I asked.
"I don"t know," he pointed to my t-shirt. "Flash him or something."
I scowled. "Very funny."
"It wouldn"t work anyway, he wouldn"t be able to see much."
I smacked his shoulder. "Bryce!"
"For G.o.d"s sake, I"m saying he"s too far away!"
I stared at him for a second. "Don"t you dare smile."
Biting back a grin, he turned and fired, then bolted behind a coffee stand that was closer to the escalators.